A massive cleanup effort is underway in Peru's hard-hit city of Pisco as signs of quicker aid distribution are being seen following last week's devastating earthquake.
After the search for survivors officially ended Monday, efforts were shifted to clearing the tons of rubble from the streets, providing aid to survivors, and preparing for reconstruction.Eighty percent of the southern port city, which had a pre-quake population of 130,000, was destroyed by last Wednesday's powerful 8.0 magnitude earthquake.
According to Agence France-Presse, the quake killed at least 540, injured 1,100 and left 200,000 homeless in Peru's southwestern coastal area.
"It is notable ... that 85% of the city of Pisco is in ruins. There are still problems with water, electricity, etc., although this is improving slowly with the delivery of water in containers, since the city water system has collapsed and the water supply is polluted with sewage," reported Maj. Luis Gonzales Posada, a Salvation Army divisional commander, in an update from The Salvation Army.
"We have 40 volunteers who are working shifts every day, 20 hours per day. Our volunteers are providing spiritual support, consoling the families who have lost loved ones, and helping to move the bodies. This is having a tremendous impact on their own lives. Whole families have disappeared," he stated.
According to AFP, the government said a census would be taken in a week of all homeless people in the area to include them in a work force for the reconstruction effort, which engineers said could take up to four years.
Life was hard enough for most people in this desert region of farmers and fishermen, as The Associated Press noted in its report. Now factories damaged by the quake offer no work, dozens of fishermen lost their boats, and farmers fear their animals will die and crops wilt away with water distribution ruptured.
President Alan Garcia said in Lima on Monday that cleaning the streets and rebuilding in a region where the quake rendered 80,000 homeless are now top priorities. The government will then build small two-story houses for those who lost their homes.
Though he estimated all rubble would be cleared in 15 days so families could start rebuilding, AFP reported that the massive cleanup effort did not get underway in Pisco until Thursday.
Meanwhile citizens have been complaining over the authorities' poorly organised distribution of aid. Although aid from neighboring South American nations arrived in Peru during the weekend, as well as help from Europe and the United States, food, water and clothing were only trickling in. Tents and blankets, meanwhile, remained in short supply.
